Sylvia Frain

Impact / Producer, Researcher

Blowing in the Wind
New Zealand, 2024, Director / Producer: Fiona Amundsen, Producer: Sylvia Frain, Documentary, English, 15 min
'Blowing in the Wind' explores present-day activist efforts to amend the 'Radiation Exposure Compensation Act' to include Guhan (Guam) as a jurisdiction of 'downwinders' resulting from American nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The film's primary focus is military veteran Robert Celestial who founded and fronts the Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors group based in Guảhan. This group are the primary activists advocating for Guảhan's recognition as a 'downwinder' since 2004. Celestial- who is present via only his voice and the sense of an unfolding back and forth conversation-takes viewers on a journey that covers his participation in building the Runit Dome, disbelief, fighting for retribution and hope. The film uses present-day filming and archival footage. The latter includes material from an informational Civil Defence film on the dangers of radioactive fallout; along with footage from two United States Atomic Energy Commission and University of Washington (Laboratory of Radiation Biology) research trips to Bikini, as well as US Air Force documentation of Marshall Islands testing. The footage functions to corroborate the experiences that Celestial speaks of while also alluding to how scientific knowledge was privileged over human life. The present-day filming includes abstract imagery of chemiluminescence (a scientific process used in DNA testing) and flashing lights. This imagery creates a kind of embodied reflective contemplation, and is also suggestive of the invisible poisoning that is ionizing radiation. It also privileges opacity and invisibility meaning the visuality is not necessarily obviously 'nuclear'. As such, this film's central focus concerns questioning how to socio-ethically image and bear witness to the realities of what it means to live on lands and oceans contaminated by nuclear fallout.
There is a focus on transgenerational justice concerning the history of US nuclear testing in the Pacific and the ongoing quest for nuclear atonement.

Blowing in the Wind

The Indo-Pacific Leadership Lab, jointly launched by the East-West Center and the Japan Foundation, is for rising leaders from diverse sectors, including academia, civil society, non-profit, business, and government, who want to deepen their leadership practice and increase their impact. The Lab is for those who are ready to listen sincerely, question profoundly, and learn from real-world experience and practice. The 2024 Lab cohort will focus on leadership responses to the challenges and risks arising from the climate crisis.

East-West Center

Aloha is a way of life for Native Hawaiians, who are taught from a young age to treat people with kindness and compassion. This film asks the question, How do Native Hawaiians in the diaspora keep the feeling of Aloha in their hearts, even when they live thousands of miles away? The film follows two Native Hawaiians living in the Pacific Northwest as they reflect on how Aloha sustains them amidst distance, loss, and longing. Meanwhile, back in Hawaii, local residents grapple with the legacy of colonization that has resulted in many Hawaiians being displaced from their homeland.

Dear Aloha

2024 Nature Connection Pitch Special Recognition Award from the Redford Center, in collaboration with Mountainfilm and in partnership with IF/THEN Shorts. 

Logline:
When her family land is taken for a bombing range by the US military, an Indigenous Chamorro daughter takes it upon herself to learn Western science from an elder with youth by her side. Will scientific data provide the answers for the community to hold the US federal agencies accountable?

Synopsis:
Follow the Water dives into Indigenous land rights, water security, historical contamination, and contemporary community organizing across the United States (US) colonies of Guam (Guåhan) and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). It is an uncomfortable story of how US democratic deficiencies and Indigenous connections to land manifest into everyday experiences, such as toxic drinking water, high rates of specific cancers, and denial of access to ancestral lands. However, this film celebrates the ongoing trans-generational quest to (re)learn Indigenous culture, (re)search with Western science, and use citizen power to create a new democratic model through direct access to nature.

In this character-driven, day-in-the-life story, we include the good/bad/funny everyday experiences and hardships of living in a US colony without democratic representation and restricted access to your ancestral lands and resources. Indigenous transgenerational understandings and approaches are centered and celebrated, combining Western science teaching and cultural knowledge and (re)connecting from three perspectives. 

Follow the Water

Logline
Tinian-born and American-educated lawyer, Kimberlyn “Kim” King-Hinds takes a stand against the US military – one of the most powerful military forces in the world – when her ancestral homeland risks becoming the US Navy’s next bombing range. Time is running out as the military has already begun construction on the neighboring island.

Tip of the Spear

Creative Director: Elatiana Razafimandimbimanana

Photography & Production: Ritchie Togna

Writers: Students of UNC

Premiered at the Suva International Short Film Festival 2024

Created by the Empowering Student Collective at the University of New Caledonia (UNC) in Nouméa, a French university which is part of the Academy of New Caledonia located in Nouméa. 

Course: Semiology of Images
Associate Professor: Dr Elatiana Razafimandimbimanana

Héritières & Héritiers en Oceanie / Heiresses & Heirs in Oceania

In the Marianas, slinging is so much more than just a simple diversion. Slings and stones are deeply rooted in the cultural identity of CHamorus, to the point that its elliptical pattern is a central feature of the Guam flag. Many people get slingstone tattoos. They adorn monuments, museums, and company logos that have no direct link to slinging. In murals and statues throughout the Mariana Islands, revered chiefs and warriors are almost always depicted with a sling in hand. And while many cultures around the world have a history of slinging, CHamorus arguably have one of the longest and most symbolic relationships to the sling and stone.


Haga’ yan Åcho' | Blood and Stone 

PURPOSE
We want to bring awareness of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and be unafraid to show the raw pain, fear and rage that remains in its wake. All the while, entertaining an audience with high tension and action. Allowing scenes to breathe, stewing in quiet moments inviting us into our characters' thoughts and feelings. We want viewers to feel deeply and compassionately about our story and to share it with others.

Proof of concept short film: https://youtu.be/yvgTSrTimjI?si=lh1H-
rfDo1SfTtFq 